


To The Moon and Back - Context and Notes

by b33x, mysticmilks



Series: To the Moon and Back [2]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M, Meta, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:21:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22367092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b33x/pseuds/b33x, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysticmilks/pseuds/mysticmilks
Summary: Notes, background, contextual information about life in Russia at the time the fic "To The Moon and Back" is set. Gopnik youth subculture, khrushchyovka apartment blocks, etc.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: To the Moon and Back [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610125
Comments: 17
Kudos: 29





	1. Character Names

**Author's Note:**

> This information is compiled from multiple conversations online among the translator team, as the team shared anecdotal knowledge, and also contains some light speculation about original authorial intent.
> 
> Constructive feedback and corrections are welcome.

Here is a list of the characters:

Kylo Ren (Renat "Topor" Solaev)

Armitage Hux (Arseny "Rzhavyi" Khakasov)

Rey (Reikhan Solaeva)

Poe Dameron (Pasha Damirian)

Supreme Leader Snoke (Vladimir Leonidovich)

Captain Phasma (Katerina Fazova)

Dopheld Mitaka (Mitka “Dead”)

Lieutenant Rodinon (Rodionov)

Brendol Hux (Boris Khakasov)

Leia Organa-Solo (Elena Solayeva)

Han Solo (Amirkhan Solayev) 

**Street Nicknames**

Hux and Ren go by street nicknames "Rzhavyi" and "Topor," which literally translate to "Rust" and "Axe", respectively. These are badass yet faintly ridiculous nicknames. But we thought "Rust" and "Axe" might be super distracting words to see used as names, it seems very weird in English, so we left them as the original Russian words.

Mitaka's street name is "Dead" (Dokhlyy / «Дохлый»). This means 1) a dead body, especially an animal that has been dead for some time. 2) weak.

**About the name Topor**

_Topor_ literally means "Axe". When Rzhavyi asks Topor why he goes by that name, he replies, it's because he can't swim. Which literally is from the phrase "sink like an axe." He's being a smartass. _Kylo_ is an old Russian word for 'axe'. Also, there is a saying "face looks as made with an axe," which may be an oblique reference to Kylo's facial scar.

Ren probably came up with the name "Topor" to be able to talk to Rzhavyi. So that Rzhavyi would be impressed that he also has a handle. You don't just have one for no reason, So he clearly knows/has seen some shit. It's also possible he literally did get it in the army. Like, if he got tossed in the water as a hazing thing. But he probably just came up w/ it, because later Rzhavyi notes that his buddies don't use it.

**About the name Rzhavyi**

_Rzhavyi_ literally means rusty, covered in rust. In Russian and in English. "rusty" has the connotation of red, he may have this nickname because of his red hair

**Korytnik**

Rzhavyi (Hux) frequently refers to Topor (Ren) as a _korytnik_. This is not a name, but a term that refers to a person who drives an inexpensive but customized car. _Korytnik_ is a bit like "gearhead." Think the Russian version of a 1950s California hot rodder or rice rocket / Japanese import / drift car enthusiast. 

Topor's black car, his pride, and joy, is referred to as a _koryto_ , and a _desyatka_ (model number twelve). Some untranslatable slang terms for car translated literally to tub, basin, wheelbarrow, and pelvis. Mostly we just translated this as "car"

**About Full Names**

People are seldom addressed using their full names. It doesn't depend on the length, full names in 99% of the cases sounds too official. Almost every name has multiple forms. Depending on which form of the name is used, you can understand the relationship between people. eg. Olga is an official name (and short one). No one except teachers, police, other officials, or parents, when they are mad at you, will use it. The normal form would be Olya. A petname that family or close friends can use would be Olen'ka or Olech'ka. Then if you want to call her you can say "Ol', come here!"

For Arseny (Hux) - it's a long name, so definitely short form. Renat calls him **Senya** , it's informal but not a petname. His petname would be Senich'ka. His grandmom might call him Arsenich'ka, grandmoms like to combine long-form with petnames. But variants can be countless.

For Renat (Kylo) - a bit tricky, it's not a common Slavic name. But that wouldn't stop for example his grandmom Padme if she was alive. First, she would nag to Leia (Elelena) that that's a stupid name, and it's so hard to come up with a petname, then she would call him Renatik, or Renatush'ka. But with Renat it's only for family and partners, even with a close friend it'd sound weird

It's usually forgotten in movies, no one is really Boris or Vladimir, they are Borya and Vova.

Using the full name without the patronymic sounds wrong, maybe even condescending. It can be a juxtaposition of using the full name without formal You.

 **Snoke** is Vladimir Leonidovich. That one is so good! It’s his full name and patronymic. The most polite and respectful form in our culture. Literally Vladimir the son of Leonid. It screams that he is a serious person, and doesn’t give a shit about their petty nicknames.

 **Poe** Dameron is Pasha (full name Pavel) Damirian. He’s Armenian, and this is reflected in his surname.

[Read more about the Russian naming tradition on Wikipedia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_given_name)


	2. Housing (Khrushchyovka), Class Differences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Information on the city, the apartment buildings and courtyards that feature heavily in the story, and some background about class and education.

**The City of Tolyatti**

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolyatti>

[Older Soviet era photos](https://aloban75.livejournal.com/994107.html), includes images of Khrushchyovka under construction.

**What is a Khrushchyovka apartment building?**

[Khrushchyovka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khrushchyovka%C2%A0) are prefabricated five-story apartment buildings built in massive numbers all over the Soviet Union for decades. 

Think of Hux as a low level gangbanger in... let's say Detroit. Imagine a whole city that's just housing projects & declining auto plants and freestanding garages and semi-abandoned warehouses

In an American context, "housing projects" implies that the occupants are the poorest people, in contrast to the rest of the population living in other forms of housing. In Russia, this type of housing was ubiquitous. If you lived in a city, chances are that's how you lived. Living in these housing developments doesn't directly correlate with your income or your class. People who have a good job live there, try to make it nice, fancy cars can be parked there. None of this is really class-based, or at least not the way it is in the US.

The housing was shitty because of WWII, a need of housing for a lot of people, buildings norm that was lowered, the fact that these apartments were given FOR FREE, and you couldn't buy any property, and the current difference between the cost of the apartment, really low average salary, especially in cities that are not Moscow (St. Petersburg, Minsk, Kyiv) and horrible almost extortionate mortgages.

[Check out these paintings of Khrushchyovka apartment blocks in winter by Ilgiz Gimranov (Ильгиз Гимранов) ](https://treasure2011.livejournal.com/353378.html)

[A contemporary article about the future, as cities move to replace the buildings](https://www.rbth.com/longreads/khrushchyovki/)

**The Courtyard**

The yard is usually a square between 4 blockhouses, where everybody knows each other. Usually consists of trash cans, garages, parking, kids playground, some trees to walk dogs around. So people tell "he's from/not from our yard" or "let's go to the yard", but it is not in the official address, and it is not a garden (if there is no old lady who really likes gardening). People like Rzhavyi tend to occupy playgrounds and drink beer there, while little children prefer to climb illegally built garages (and fall from them). Parents shout from the windows "go home, you have forgotten your cap!" and so on.

Also, often in an old building, that was built before 1991, especially with 5-6 floors, everyone knows each other because a) they work together at one factory or office, b) their children go to one school/kindergarten, c) they spend their free time at that yard: talk, drink, play with their kids, men can go to garages, grandmothers (babushky) gossip about everyone, youth sing and play guitar, playing card, chess and domino also was popular. It was like a communal place where people can get together. It happens rarely now.

**The Class Gap, Social Mobility**

Though there is a huge class element at play. Hux's family, Ren's mother, & Ren's father + sister are all on VERY different levels, though Hux's dad & Ren's are probably the closest.

We still don't have classes in their western meaning in post soviet countries. People who would be considered middle-class or even lower-middle-class in western counties, are considered rich in this context, and subsequently, when you simply have any steady income you are middle-class.

Also, class and education aren't connected, especially for older people, because in the 90s a lot of highly qualified people with great education were unemployed and were working at markets, small shops, OR become criminals.

At one point in the story Hux almost doesn't believe that Ren was born in Moscow, so Ren shows him his passport, and the disbelief is obviously "if you had Moscow open to you, why are you here" -- but that sort of disbelief is at least partly built on -- basically the restriction of the freedom of movement within the country. They did get rid of the hard residency permits (propiska) that tied you down to a place, after the USSR collapsed, and they were more -- let's say optional -- but there's still the question of how did Ren's mother end up in Moscow? Her father, Ren's grandfather (Anakin), lived in the apartment Ren now lives in, here, in Togliatti, and he got it through working at the auto plant.

It would have been his "free" apartment from the government/from the plant, becoming eligible because of his disability probably, coupled with years of service etc. And later either he/his daughter must have privatized it, when privatization was a thing because otherwise it's unlikely he could have passed it on to Ren.

These aren't things that are necessarily important or obvious, but they kind of feed into the differences between Ren and Hux, because there's this huge social gap between what Ren COULD be based on his opportunities via his mother, Luke, and the path they had tried to set him on before the army, compared with the maximum Hux could achieve as is, given where he comes from not just geographically, or even class-wise, but the KIND of connections and networks they would have available. 

Infrastructure obviously changes and improves, and strictly from a material goods perspective, the differences between living in Major City of National Status and not living there are probably significantly less than they would have previously been, but nevertheless.

It's only revealed before the end, but compared to Hux, Ren is a prince, and that is an important part of the story. Their class differences, how much Ren actually lost when he decided to drop from Faculty of Journalism in the university (if it was Moscow State University I killed him with my bare hands), how unbelievably stupid his decision was to go to the army, how common and sad Hux's story is.

Ren figuring out/dealing with being gay may have had something to do with joining the army, even though it's never actually stated, but he does at some point mention he was thinking it went away/it'd go away.

**Casual Xenophobia, Racism, Anti-Semitism**

There's a reason Hux is baffled that Ren traded Moscow for this, though he has only a vague idea of what Moscow is like, other than distant and rich and "not made of rubber" -- which in itself is a xenophobic cultural reference. Moscow "isn't made of rubber" as in it won't stretch to accommodate all the migrants and new arrivals from Somewhere, Anywhere Elsewhere

Ren(Renat) and Poe (Pasha Damiryan) are described by Hux as non-Russians, which is a substitute for ‘non-white’ or more commonly non-Slavic. Hux does not express a lot of racism/nationalism but still he does it casually. In one instance, he looks at Ren and sees a sly expression, and thinks to himself ‘maybe he's even partially Jew’, because sly=jew.

Generally speaking Slavic-people (Russians, Ukraninans, Belarasians, Balts) are casually xenophobic toward everyone else who lives in post-Soviet territory. It’s not very ubiquitous, but because it’s not addressed people think it’s okay.

There are a lot of prejudice, and bias, from your general “man from the south or from the Caucasus are more sexually active, and want to fuck all of OUR women” to more weird and hateful ideas that ‘some nation’ wants to cheat you all the time.

Hux constantly makes mental comments about the unRussianness of Ren, and Ren's name & his father's name (as opposed to his mother's which is pretty Russian) are in fact, not Russian. 

It's not that Hux is particularly xenophobic. This was the normative attitude, regardless of class. For example, neighbors, in a very nice building, rented their apt for a couple years to these 2 women who were NEVER known around the yard as anything other than "the Armenians" Even though they were around a while and everyone knew their names.

Ren's ethnicity is probably Tatar (second largest ethnic group in Russia after the Russians). He could also possibly be Chechen or Ossetian, from the surname.

Hux's ethnicity is probably Udmurtia.


	3. Drinking, Gopniki, Thieves' Law

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Includes discussion of homophobia and misogyny.

**Drinking**

Rzhavyi’s father drinks counterfeit vodka cause it's cheap and available.

It's pretty easy to make vodka, but the license to do it cost a lot. So some criminals were making their own vodka, labeled it as normal vodka and sold it. The problem was that often they used bad ingredients and A LOT of people died from that kind of product.

**Institutional Corruption**

** Institutional corruption is everywhere. With so many people out of work, the lines between corruption, illegal business, actual crime (as opposed to business that was inherently illegal because it was business) and organized crime began to blur. **

**Military Service, Mandatory Conscription**

So, the army in Russia was at that time and still is mandatory (Conscription). Every man who turned 18 must serve there. At that time the service was for 18 months. The only legal reasons not to serve are health issues or going to college. Obviously, you can give a bribe and not go. So, people who served in the army were either poor boys from rural areas who go there to get food, boys from low-income families, or people who really want to go there. E.G. I only know one person who actually served in the army.

Topor finished his 18 month (I think it's less now). And yes he was crazy to join. On the other hand if you aren't in uni, and you didn't give a bribe, you can be put in jail for not joining the army.

I mean, it's never stated what he was doing in army, but a) at that time Russia had internal conflict in Chechya b) army is super homophobic c) even if you aren't fighting an actual war it's a dangerous place: food is bad, conditions are bad, AND there is the [hazing in Russian military](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedovshchina)

**Homosexuality & Homophobia**

Being a gay man in early 00' in post soviet country is a different kind of untranslatable. The author tried to depict that, but downplayed it (not a criticism, just translator's opinion). The only people who act somewhat realistic is Hux's father and Ren when he was called fa*** for the first time. The level of homophobia was, and is, unbelievably high. It's still isn't safe to be an openly gay man (better for a lesbian, much worse for trans people).

From the text, it's hard to tell about Ren's feelings toward his own sexuality. At least with Hux (and Phasma too) he is confident and other than in that small moment where he says something like 'I thought I was cured' he doesn't show any doubt or shame. Also, the story is not finished yet, so it's hard to tell about his experience. He struck me as a more experienced man than Hux. He definitely has experience with women, but I assumed that he had some experience with men too. And that makes his decision to join the army even more controversial. On the one hand, an army is a horrible place for a gay man, on the other, it could be some kind of self-punishment, protest or a test that he put on himself.

**Wannabe Gopnik Kids Trying to Survive**

Rzhavyi (Hux) speaks and thinks almost entirely in slang, and sort of dissociates his gangbanger identity, who can do what it takes to survive, and is strong from all the garbage, from the person he didn't grow up to be (Senya), his passport name, so there are very few moments where he thinks like that kid.

important note: neither Hux nor Ren is a part of the mafia in this AU. They aren't even real gopniki. Hux is close, but he mostly stays in the grey area and gets a lot into fights. They both grew up in that world, and Hux wants to act as part of it. They are not in gangs, nor do they commit crime regularly. They, especially Hux, do speak that language, but they do not live according to ponyatya (laws of criminals, that were considered to be almost noble, but that different story), they didn't go to jail, and aren't part of any criminal hierarchy. They, but really only Hux, are kids from low-income homes with abusive parents, who grew up to believe that this was the only way of living.

And that’s where the phrase from the description comes handy “не мы такие жизнь такая” “We are what life made us” or literal ‘it’s not who we are, it’s the life”. For a child like Hux, from his family, in that time, that was probably the only way. The choice is simple a) alcoholism b) substance abuse c) crime for boys/prostitution for girls d) be a sugar baby/ a trophy wife for girls.

Hux chooses to live almost crimeless life. Even though, his parents don't give a shit he tries to get an education. All education was free at that time, and it was possible for him to get a college degree, if someone cared about him even a bit. He goes to that shitty school, and teach himself to work with computers, but if he won’t work for that ‘grey’ repair shop he would a) earn much less money, b) if he continues to work for himself there was a high chance that someone will find out and steal from him/ ask for the percentage of his income/beat him for being a smartass. 

The main point is that Hux, as in canon, needed to adapt to survive. 

**Criminal Culture, Thieves' Law (Ponyatya),** **influence on society at large**

So, in the yard or in the garages there is usually 20-something guy who has been to prison and that's why he has an authority among teens. (But interestingly, he probably never was to that prison from movies (like Black Dolphin - cos he wouldn't be out young), so at best he was in a colony for stealing a box of cat food, or a drunk fight, or a was in a juvenile centre or even a pre-trial detention center). 

Juvenile centres are probably the worst. Among all the horrors of jail, an adult person can state that they are not interested in criminal career and be left to their own devices. But teens tend to recreate Lord of the Flies everywhere and be very serious about the RULES. So that real criminal or criminal wannabe grooms the teens and they grow up to respect the Rules, and if they don't escape that world via education or sport or hobby or smth like that, some day they get to prison themselves and they are ready to support those rules, as the source of order and control in their lives. And even if they never set foot in adult jail, they reach their own children. And they believe that jail is some school of man. Even those who go very far - become rich and famous, scientists and artists - they still bring some elements of the subculture with them. And the subculture is very nihilistic (don't trust, don't fear, don't ask), misogynist, homophobic.

(Anecdote. A man comes home from prison to his wife. Everything ok, but they don't have sex. She gets nervous. Once, during the dinner, she gingerly asks him, why doesn't he want to sleep with her. He throws down the spoon: Are you out of your mind! We are having dinner at one table!)

Also: these Rules (Thieves' Law) are romanticized in Russian culture. "Good Criminal" is something akin Robin Hood. Their laws are 1) be faithful to your gang 2) honor your parents 3) do not rape 4) do not respect authority/government/cops 5) never steal from your bros 6) do not be violent without a reason. 

Obviously, real criminals don't give a shit about these Laws, but for common folk, and young boys from low social class they seemed to be almost as knights.

There was extremely popular mini-serial on tv [called Brigada (band)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigada) about a group of friends who became criminals. It has a sad ending, but it does romanticize criminal life. Even people who have never seen it can hum the soundtrack, and say a couple of phrases from it. That's how ubiquitous that culture is.

**More Thieves' Law: Homosexuality as Communicable Disease, Status of Women**

The homophobia in this story is definitely downplayed, especially because -- for Hux, who is living by the Rules, it definitely should be more fraught than for Ren who's only Rules-adjacent.

It's reasonable, if you're an authority (or are at all higher in the criminal social structure), to have sex with someone lower in the structure, in prison, but it's absolutely unreasonable otherwise. And when I say have sex, I mean only to be the penetrating partner. Once you've been on the receiving end in any aspect, that essentially demotes you to that forever, and that's a demotion like... literally to the lowest thing you could possibly be in this setup.

Sometimes all it takes is you ate off the plate of a person who is at this status, or if you give oral sex, even to a woman. 'You can't eat pussy. Eating pussy is for fag***'

Technically when you call someone kozyol (goat) that is what you're calling them, though it's not necessarily like... how to phrase it - like, guys I went to school with called each other kozyol because they knew that it was smth they could derogatorily call each other but I doubt they meant it like this.

According to these rules, topping a dude is ok.  Being fucked is what makes u gay. Penetrating doesnt count, it's only if you let a dick enter you (mouth or ass) that you're a f*g. 

It's also similar to US Italian mafia. There was a whole ep of the Sopranos where Tony mocked his uncle for eating his girlfriend out.  'if you eat pussy, you touch with your mouth a place where dick goes, and that makes you gay.' That one is not that common, but I read some time ago about a lot of ridiculous things that can make you gay 'according to the Law'

If in prison you ever are put in a cell with -- ugh I guess the comparable US term would be other prison bitches? Sigh. Anyway, you spend a night in there, even in error, even unknowingly, even because the guards forced u to? That's enough, you're also that now. 

Women aren't considered people.

Real criminals, like, oldschool "thieves" -- the authorities, anyway-- Couldnt be married. The basis of this was  the concept of the only loyalty you have is to your organization / your men. vs some baba (chick) who's not really "people" in the same way.

With all this in mind, if this were a true to life story, there is NO WAY these two will fuck, it's unrealistic without Hux changing so much that he gets beyond this, which can't happen in this town where he is enmeshed in the culture (I mean, not that they wouldn't be sexual, but I figured there would be no penetrative acts of any sort)


End file.
